


Man's Best Friend

by Mistress_Kalamity



Series: My Heart's To Blame [8]
Category: Tokio Hotel
Genre: Epilepsy, Germany, M/M, Seizures, Service Animals
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-21
Updated: 2016-09-21
Packaged: 2018-08-16 13:14:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,918
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8103838
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mistress_Kalamity/pseuds/Mistress_Kalamity





	

Georg is getting annoyed at how unpredictable each and every one of Tom’s larger seizures have gotten. He has had seconds to get Tom to safety, usually he didn’t even have that. With two daughters in the house, Georg did not want Tom to get even more hurt than he has because he was tending to their children and not his husband. He has been wishing that maybe just maybe some miracle would come to help him in his time of need. As he washed the dishes, he heard a clatter in the living room. He just put the cloth down when he heard the gut wrenching sounds that often followed when he heard clatter. He rushes into the living room, sees Tom is on the floor, body completely overrun by the tonic clonic seizure, the table had clearly made contact with his husband’s skull. With a sigh, he walks over to him and gets him on his side. Tom’s coffee mug had been shattered in the fall and he knows that the guitarist is going to be pissed when he finds out. Right now, all he can focus on is keeping Tom safe. The seizure ends almost as quickly as it started with Tom exhaling harshly on the floor, expelling any fluids that accumulated in his mouth. 

“Babe, this is happening too much,” Georg sighs to no one.

The girls are at Gustav and Bill’s for the weekend, to give Tom and Georg some rest. The younger twin knew about his brother’s condition and knew that giving him a weekend away from the kids should do them both some good. Since they left Friday afternoon, Tom’s had two tonic clonic seizures and a collection of absences, myoclonics and complex partials. He wasn’t getting better at all. If he wasn’t walking Georg up out of his sleep, he was giving him heart attacks when he was awake. The brunette was exhausted and just wanted a break. Tom brings a heavy hand up to his face, in a shaky attempt to wipe his face, and is stopped by his husband. Georg helps him sit up, so he can meet his eyes and assess his condition further. He has learned from years of dealing with this that the hazel color in Tom’s eyes disappears during his seizures and during lucidity the vibrant yellowish hues come back. He has also learned how to assess Tom’s level of consciousness without needing the younger male to say anything. He found the alternative ways because Tom had complained about how painful talking can be after a seizure. Moving his tongue around in his mouth after chomping down on it for several minutes, even drawing blood, is very painful. 

“Alright, can you raise your left hand for me?”

It’s sluggish but eventually Tom raises his hand. He completes the lucidity test as well as anyone who just had a full generalized seizure would and soon he’s passed out on the couch with a blanket over him and Georg’s lap under his tired head. He hadn’t been able to even tell Georg what happened. The brunette checked for a gash, cut, lump, bruises….anything. With the force that Tom hit the table with, he’s amazed that he didn’t get seriously injured. Tom didn’t complain of a headache and there wasn’t any blood. Doesn’t mean he still didn’t bring him to the hospital. He knew that internal bleeding could be a danger and he didn’t want to put Tom at any more risk of further injury. They left the hospital with a clean bill of health and an angry, yet saddened Tom. He retreated to their shared room and lays down in his bed. He wishes he were born normal like his twin brother. Then he’d be able to fully enjoy life and being a husband and being a father. Unfortunately, he is stuck with this constant monkey on his back, not knowing when that bullet was in the chamber. He cuddles with a pillow and looks out the large windows that expose some of their master bedroom. Those dark thoughts that raid his mind occasionally start to eat away at his brain until the door creaks open and Georg walks inside. He can see his husband sulking in the corner of the bed. 

“Hey, Tom,” Georg smiles.

The guitarist says nothing. Georg gets worried that Tom’s succumb to yet again another seizure with his lack of response. He finds the tiny penlight and walks over to where Tom is lying. He goes to shine it in his eyes, to check for dilation when Tom swats his husband away. Georg sighs with relief and then takes a seat right on the floor in front of his husband.

“Georg, I just wanna be alone right now.”

“You know I would never leave you here sulking to yourself. What’s wrong?”

“You know damn well what’s wrong!”

Tom sits up and glares down at Georg. He didn’t want the cooing and he didn’t want his husband to treat him like he was fragile. He knew that this would happen. As soon as his condition got out of his control, every person he knew treated him like he’d gork out and have a seizure every second they glanced at him. He covers his body with his hands and soon shudders erupt through him. Tears flow out of his eyes and he’s sobbing.

“Tomi?”

“I can’t do this. It hurts too much. I’ve got deep cuts in my mouth, bruises all over my body and my head hurts. I just wanna be normal.”

“Tomi….look I know it’s hard but---.”

“No! I don’t wanna hear that it’s gonna get better bullshit! It’s not! Unless medicine finds a cure, there is no better for me. It’s not like I have something that can be cured and be rid of it. I have to live with this every fucking day and I hate it!” Tom exclaims.

“Tom, please don’t give up. Please.”

The guitarist looks away from his husband and lays back down. He hugs the very same pillow and allows his tears to just fall freely, saying nothing else. He can’t be sick anymore. He didn’t know how he survived this long but he couldn’t look at his husband, his children or anyone for that matter. He needed to take a break from all the people around him. Tom made that very clear when he ignored Georg’s questions that came like rushing water. The brunette eventually just leaves him alone. Tom’s exhausted anyway and it’s still pretty early in the day. He retreats into the kitchen and sits down with a cup of piping hot coffee and a paper. Anything to take his mind off of Tom for a short while. Of course, epilepsy couldn’t be ignored. Georg drains the final drop from the mug when he hears something fall upstairs. 

He flies up the stairs and finds Tom rigid on the ground. He’s moaning and his eyes are rolled upward and fixed. He groans and walks over to him. He carefully pulls him to his side and holds him gently in place, to make sure his constant motion doesn’t force him onto his back. He looks down at his husband and brushes his hair from his face. This disorder is truly one of the worst. To be constantly bombarded by these large attacks and not knowing when they’re gonna come must be truly awful for the guitarist. Georg finds them to be inconvenient and he can’t truly imagine how Tom must feel. He breathes a sigh of relief when the seizure ends and Tom is lying perfectly still on the ground. Georg stays silent, the only sound being the noises Tom makes as he regains his breathing ability. No words are exchanged, Georg only helps the male up once he’s lucid and tucks him into bed.

******

Georg wakes up bright Monday morning, happy that Bill agreed to drop Milo off at school and Sasha at daycare while he tried to figure out what to do about the Tom situation over a cup of coffee. He watches as Tom takes his medication with shaky hands, soon going back up to the room to lay down. Georg doesn’t follow. He just retreats to living room and turns on the television. He is sipping his black coffee when an Epilepsy Foundation commercial fills the black space of the screen. He turns it up and listens to what the woman in purple has to say.

_“....too many times have we as caregivers and family arrived too late during seizure events and too many times have our children, siblings and loved ones been getting injured. My son, Toby, is 23 and he has horrible grand mal seizures. Our family has been blessed to have a seizure alert dog that tells us when Toby’s gonna have a seizure. It has saved my son’s life on so many occasions and he also gives our son a friend to have with him too. Seizure Alert Dogs save lives…._

He puts the mug down and thinks about Tom. Tom loves dogs and he wouldn’t mind a service dog, would he? The brunette goes up to the room and finds Tom just sitting on the bed. His gaze into fixed on anything and he looks a little disorientated. The room is also a little messed up.

“Babe, are you okay?” Georg asks when he gets over to him.

“Hmm? Yeah, I was uh, what was I doing?”

“What do you remember?”

“I uh, I came to lay down but then I saw that Bill had texted me, so I….responded I think….it all gets black from there.”

Georg sighs and puts a caring hand on Tom’s leg. They meet gazes and Tom starts crying again.

“I don’t like this. I can’t remember anything. Georg, I want this to stop. I don’t like feeling alone.”

“Shhh, it’s okay. I am going to get you help, I promise. Before that though, I am going to check the ST cam, okay?”

The camera had been installed in their bedroom upon moving in because there had been a seizure that Georg did not witness which had Tom expel from the bed and bang up against the frame. He didn’t know about it because by the time he got home, Tom had picked himself up from the floor, cleaned up and got back into bed. To this day, Georg still doesn’t know how Tom found the energy to do that. He lays Tom down and then goes to grab the tape from the camera. He puts the disc into his laptop once Tom’s asleep and sighs at what plays on the screen before him. Tom had a complex partial. How did he not hear him? TV, he concludes. He watches his husband wander aimlessly around the room, picking at his shirt, fiddling with the drawers, clothing, the sheets and finally sitting on the bed and going into an absence until Georg walks in and pulls him out of it. He rubs his tired face and sighs at the computer. Tom isn’t safe alone anymore. He didn’t want to get super overbearing or protective but at the same time, he didn’t want to leave Tom alone. He migrates over to his search engine and starts to google information on service animals. 

He kept his intentions secret when he made an appointment to pick up a dog for the next day. He wanted a dog that was trained. A dog that would destroy his worries about Tom being alone. Tom isn’t really happy when they load into the car the following morning, after dropping the girls off at their designated areas, he drove toward the place where Tom would meet his future companion. The bearded male didn’t say anything to his husband as they drove to the location. He stares out the window mostly, trying to figure out why Georg would drive him from their home, a place of safety to a strange place, the danger zone--at least, according to Tom--he’d much rather sleep oppose to being around anyone at the moment. He wanted to just be at peace. Driving for an hour did nothing but give Tom a massive headache. They climbed out of the car and Tom looks up at the sign.

“Georg, why are we here?”

“Surprise, I purchased you a….service animal.”

“Seriously? Georg, it’s enough I have you following me around now I have to deal with an animal too?”

“Look, this could be good for you. These dogs can sense when you’re about to have a seizure and alert bystanders. I can get some kind of warning when you have an attack, which means less accidents.”

“Alright, well what if it doesn’t work? Waste of money,” Tom sighs.

“Trust me, this will work. Now, come on, they have a dog for us.”

Georg takes Tom’s hand and together they walk into the building. There’s trainers, training different breeds of dogs and animals. There’s cats in there too. A woman walks over from behind her desk, hand outstretched and large grin plastered to her face.

“Hi, I’m Debbie. Welcome to Forever Companions, you must be Georg Listing and this is your husband you called about,” she chirps.

“Pleasure is all mine, this is Tom,” Georg smiles.

Tom wants to cringe from all the pleasantries being tossed around. So polite. He puts out a skeptic hand for her to shake and shake it she does. Tom’s teeth are rattling once she pulls her hand away. She leads the two men where a german shorthair pointer is practicing CPR. The kind woman who greeted them releases the trainer and brings the dog over to the waiting couple.

“This is Hunter. He’s been with us since he was a little puppy. He’s a trained seizure alert dog and he’s CPR certified.”

Georg watches as pure joy washes over Tom’s expression. He reminded him of his late dog, Scotty. They missed that dog and wished that he never died. Tom bends down and starts to pet the dog, who gladly accepts the attention since he’s off duty. Tom’s soon hugging the dog as if he were his child.

“I take it you like the dog,” Debbie smiles.

 

“He’s gorgeous. I want him,” Tom replies.

Georg fills out all the necessary paperwork, collects Hunter’s ID tag, vest, collar, leash and care booklet. Tom’s more excited about having another dog that he doesn’t care about the reasoning behind it. He has always loved animals. Since he and Bill were very young, they dreamed of having a lot of pets. So far, they have been content with their dogs. Hunter sits quietly in the back seat while Tom sits up front with Georg in the car on the way back. The brunette secretly wishes that this dog will be the one thing that helps Tom’s independence, overall happiness, and safety. He didn’t know how it would work out but his fingers are crossed.

“Geo, thanks so much for this, I know that things haven’t been….easy for either of us but I think this could really make a difference.”

“I hope so. Those dogs are fucking expensive. I’m pretty sure I used my entire cut from our last tour on this.”

“Geo, that tour was four years ago….”

“Exactly. I cannot wait for Feel It All,” Georg sighs.

“Me either. It feels good to know that we can get back to doing what we love. I miss the music and the fans too.”

After what seems like days, the pair is headed to Berlin to meet up with Bill and Gustav at their rehearsal space. Hunter is sitting content in the back seat of the car, so far not really having to alert anyone of Tom needing medical attention. The new medication is working and he’s been pretty content. Sasha kicks her chubby little legs in the car seat, laughing hysterically because Milo is tickling her belly. The older child is doing home school for the time being, her fathers are about to leave the country and Tom feels this would be a learning experience that school could not provide. They pull up in front of the building and Bill is outside smoking a cigarette. Gustav isn’t standing there but judging by the open trunk and the suitcases, Tom deduces that he’s unpacking their things.

“Hey, twin,” Bill chirps.

“Where’s my cousin?” Georg asks.

“Unpacking. I brought a lot of shit with me and I don’t know why.”

“It’s because you’re Bill,” Tom jokes.

Bill only shrugs and looks down at the animal at his feet. He hadn’t seen the new dog yet, Georg only told him about him. He was on duty judging by the vest secured around his torso. He stood next to Tom, nudging his legs ever so often.

“So this is the service dog that Georg was telling me about?”

“Yeah, his name is Hunter and so far, he’s been doing nothing yet. No barking or anything. I think the new medication is finally going to do me some good.”

Bill puts his cigarette out and turns to the door. He leads the family inside the space and Milo is awestruck. She knew what her parents did but she didn’t really see how much came into play to put on one of their shows. Milo bounces happily in her carrier on Georg’s chest. She doesn’t know what’s going on. She smells pineapple and wants a piece.

“Bill, can you spare a piece of your fruit for Sassy? She smells it and is kicking the crap out of me,” Georg chuckles.

The singer hands his niece the fruit and she takes it in her hands and starts suckling on it. Bill smiles and kisses her chubby little cheek.

“They can roam if you want. The place is baby proofed and we have a play area for Sasha,” Bill tells Georg. 

The brunette happily unhooks the carrier and brings the baby over to the small designated area with toys for her to play with. Milo sits close by, wanting to watch her sister while her parents worked. Georg meets the twins over by the boards and Tom’s looking down at the equipment.

“....we should re-wire all of this. It’s going to cause trouble if we don’t.”

“Gustav, he said the same thing, I don’t know why they hooked all this shit up like this,” Bill shrugs.

“What happened?” Georg interjects.

“Oh nothing too serious, just the crew hooked up everything so inconveniently. The amps are all tangled up into wire spaghetti and so are all the keyboards, mic stands and equalizers,” Tom points out.

Tom bends down to get to work, he’s been really good at organizing cords since he and Bill first started performing. Hunter stands close by, the dog couldn’t say it but something kind of felt wrong for him. Tom is too calm and too active at the same time. Georg leaves his husband to work, while he and Bill discuss some more financial things. They’re 20 minutes into their meeting when Hunter starts barking. Georg gets up from his seat in the back and goes back to the rehearsal space. The dog is trying to tug Tom over to the seat or to lay down but Tom keeps ignoring him.

“Babe, wanna come sit over here?”

“Why? I am fine, really, he’s just freaking out.”

“Look, I trust this dog’s judgment and if he’s barking, then I think you should have a seat, or lay down. Just to calm my nerves,” Georg sighs.

Tom rolls his eyes and stands up to his full height. He walks over to the couch when he freezes in his step. The brunette notices his unsteady stance and immediately walks over. He puts a hand on Tom’s back and one on his torso, to provide balance and to catch him in case he fell. 

“You alright?” Georg asks.

The guitarist can’t respond. He can see the lost look in his eyes and he can feel the stiffness in his body. Georg can’t move him and there isn’t any room where they’re standing for this. He mentally curses himself for not making him move with more haste or getting him to move while he was still lucid. Tom’s body leans sideways until he’s resting right on Georg. His husband can feel that he’s trembling in his arms. He uses his body as a weight and he pulls Tom closer until he can feel the stiffness in his body. He cannot let him seize standing up, he thinks to himself.

Hunter is still barking because he wants to make sure Georg knows that a seizure is coming.

“I got him, good boy,” Georg says to the dog.

He feels the tonic phase of Tom’s seizure start and he panics, he’s still standing. The brunette knows he has no choice. He somehow manages to lay Tom down on the ground in the small space between the guitar case and couch. As soon as the younger male is on the ground, he starts convulsing. Hunter stops barking and moves to do what he was trained to do. He goes over to Tom’s face and starts to lick the saliva, to keep him from choking on it. Georg doesn’t restrict the dog because he knows what to do. He gently licks his hands too, to reassure his owner. Once the seizure is slowly ending, he carefully licks up the expelled fluids that come rushing from Tom’s mouth, blood included. Georg turns Tom on his side which helps the dog get more into the tiny space and lay by his owner’s side. 

“Good boy, Hunter,” Georg coos. 

The room is dead silent as Bill hasn’t seen one of Tom’s seizures in months, almost a year and Gustav hasn’t seen them in years. Milo keeps a keen eye on Sasha, who was curious as to why the big doggy was barking earlier. She is a little less than a year old and doesn’t understand anything about what’s going on with her daddy. In fact, Georg has managed to keep her away from Tom during his fits, successfully this far. Milo kept her sister’s attention on the toys in front of her because she knew that her father seizing would scare the baby. 

“Shh, Tomi, it’s okay, you are doing real good, you are gonna come out. Just breathe and relax.”

The guitarist moans and expels more fluids from his mouth, mostly saliva and mucus be, while trying to figure out where he is with blurry vision. He attempts to move but is stopped by Georg’s large hands.

“No, don’t move. You just had a seizure and you aren’t in a space with enough room to move.”

“Geh….”

“Yeah, I’m right here. Hunter alerted me.”

His eyes roll around, almost out of his control, to the dog lying next to his head. He wants to pet him to let him know that he’s alright. He doesn’t move, until Georg sits him up to get a better look at him. He is clearly exhausted but he had to make sure that he didn’t hurt anything besides his mouth. Tom very jerkingly puts a hand on Hunter’s head and fluffs his ears. The dog leans more into the gesture, being a small signal that his owner is okay. The dog is okay because he knows he did his job and now his owner will always be safe.


End file.
